Filming resumed.
Taeha, along with the rest of the actors and staff of *Your Brilliant Sparkle*, focused on the shoot once more. Filming for Episode Five began from Jung Si-hoo’s perspective.
Jung Si-hoo had realized that simply distancing himself from Lim Yu-jin was not the solution. Having regressed once again, he decided to change his approach. He now knew that even if she were to forget him, it would all be for naught if she didn’t eventually meet a good person.
Thus, Jung Si-hoo resolved to teach Lim Yu-jin what kind of people she should avoid. To achieve this, he approached her.
Lim Yu-jin remained unaware of the secret that Jung Si-hoo also remembered the regressions. Taking advantage of this, Jung Si-hoo acted shamelessly, pretending he had never hurt her before as he grew closer to her. He put in the effort to find out what kind of men she was interested in, all while trying to comfort her.
Naturally, Lim Yu-jin found his behavior strange. In the previous regression, Jung Si-hoo had coldly told her to stop following him like a stalker, but now he was approaching her with warmth. Out of all the repeated regressions, this was the first time Jung Si-hoo had ever acted so kindly.
What was even stranger was that he kept asking her what kind of men she liked. Although Lim Yu-jin believed there was no way Jung Si-hoo could like her, she still felt a flutter in her heart. She cautiously answered his questions, describing the person she liked.
However, Jung Si-hoo failed to realize she was describing him.
“No! You can’t! Absolutely not!”
“Why?”
“Because a man like that is a bad guy. He’s total trash.”
“Trash?”
“Yes, trash.”
Jung Si-hoo asserted this with conviction, never imagining that the “trash” he was describing was himself. Seeing his reaction, Lim Yu-jin wondered, ‘Did something happen during the regression?’
Regardless of the reason, Lim Yu-jin was happy with Jung Si-hoo’s friendly attitude. Vowing to treasure this moment, she spoke to him.
“Even if he’s a truly bad man—even if he’s trash—I’m going to do my best to love him. Because he’s the person I chose.”
Jung Si-hoo finally realized that the person she was talking about was him. Forgetting the very purpose of this regression, he felt his own heart flutter.
Episode Five came to a close.
The story continued into Episode Six.
His goal was to teach Lim Yu-jin which people to avoid, but situations kept arising that defied that purpose. Unexpected moments of skinship between Jung Si-hoo and Lim Yu-jin occurred constantly.
Catching her when she almost fell, falling on top of each other, and hugging her while trying to save her…
The skinship repeated. Even in situations where her heart felt like it would burst, Lim Yu-jin tried her best to feign composure while she thought, ‘The person Si-hoo likes isn’t me.’
Jung Si-hoo also thought, his ears turning red, ‘I can’t let my heart waver. I have to stay away from her. Otherwise, she’ll become unhappy.’
Their feelings for each other were deepening, yet both believed they couldn’t let it happen. But their hearts didn’t follow their heads. The more they resisted, the more those feelings grew.
In the midst of this, the two ended up sharing a deep conversation they had never had in any of the previous regressions.
“I believe that someone I’ve cheered for fervently will definitely be happy in some timeline. It would be best if it were one second from now, but even 100 years later doesn’t matter.”
“Even if that person never loves you?”
“Hmm… even if he never loves me. What matters more is that I love him in any timeline. What about you?”
“Same here. Even if I remain that person’s eternal secret, I won’t be sad. Even if I cry, they will be tears of joy. I was someone who volunteered to be her shadow from the beginning.”
The air between them grew thick with complicated emotions. Then, one night after studying together late in the library, the atmosphere of the dark, rainy campus took hold of them. Their lips met.
The Episode Six ending was captured under the light of a streetlamp that refused to go out despite the rain.
Now, Episode Seven.
Huddled under her covers, Lim Yu-jin hadn’t slept a wink all night. She thought, ‘Last night… what did that kiss mean?’
Then, she realized an unbelievable truth: the slight possibility that Jung Si-hoo might actually love her.
At the same time, Jung Si-hoo was slamming his head against his desk in regret. ‘Why did I do that? Why on earth did I do such a thing?’
The reason for his painful regret was simple. He had just made it much harder for Lim Yu-jin to forget him. To eventually move on, she would now have to endure an even greater wound.
In fact, this was the reason Jung Si-hoo had never let her get close until now. He wanted to minimize the pain she would have to suffer as much as possible.
Jung Si-hoo reminded himself of the goal of this regression: to make Lim Yu-jin love a good man who wasn’t him. He realized that continuing his current methods was useless. All it did was lead to him losing his composure and falling deeper for her. Ultimately, that would only hurt her more.
‘I have to change my method. What should I do?’
After agonizing over it, Jung Si-hoo decided to personally introduce a good man to Lim Yu-jin. He believed this was the only way to fix the situation.
A short while later, Lim Yu-jin met Jung Si-hoo again in an awkward atmosphere, the lingering emotions from the night before still fresh. She was still wondering about the meaning of the kiss when she was suddenly crushed by his suggestion to set her up with someone.
‘I knew it. As expected, Si-hoo doesn’t love me.’
At the same time, she felt a surge of anger. ‘Then why did he kiss me? Why did he do it?!’
Fueled by indignation, Lim Yu-jin accepted his offer.
“I’ll do it. The blind date.”
The Episode Seven ending focused on Jung Si-hoo’s shaking eyes.
Next, Episode Eight.
The answer he wanted was for her to go on the date. But when Lim Yu-jin readily agreed, Jung Si-hoo felt strange. He should have been happy that his goal was being achieved, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel that way.
Meanwhile, Lim Yu-jin felt a deep resentment toward Jung Si-hoo. She was equally angry with herself. It felt pathetic and foolish to have believed, even for a moment, that he might love her.
‘Si-hoo wants to push me out of his life. That’s the only way he can be happy in the future.’
As that thought took hold, Lim Yu-jin burst into the tears she had been holding back.
The next day, with her eyes still swollen, Lim Yu-jin met the man Jung Si-hoo had introduced. The blind date began. The man was much better than she had expected. Not only was he handsome, but he also had great manners and wit. His prospects were excellent as well, as he was a man who would become a judge in the future.
However, Lim Yu-jin couldn’t focus on the date. Paradoxically, during this meeting with a stranger, she realized once again that she truly loved Jung Si-hoo.
Her thoughts returned to that night. She wondered if the kiss really hadn’t been an expression of love.
‘If that’s the case, why? Why has he kept me at a distance until now?’
The question soon shifted. ‘But then, why did he draw me close again in this regression?’
The puzzle pieces finally clicked into place. Lim Yu-jin realized a crucial fact. She apologized to her date and ran toward Jung Si-hoo.
When she finally found him, she asked, “Do you know? That I have memories of the regressions?”
Jung Si-hoo looked startled for a moment before nodding his head.
“Yes. I knew.”
The Episode Eight ending came with his answer.
***
In this way, the emotions between Jung Si-hoo and Lim Yu-jin rapidly escalated from Episodes Five through Eight. The goal was to shift the emotional arc of the First Lead roles—which had been focused on sorrow—toward the heart-fluttering excitement of a budding romance.
However, it was vital not to let the audience forget that there was still a barrier these two couldn’t cross despite their love. Ultimately, a drama about love is a battle of how to introduce and overcome such ultimate obstacles.
Even if it wasn’t a rom-com or a melodrama but a campus youth drama, the obstacle in *Your Brilliant Sparkle* was the “unhappy future that would inevitably occur if the two were together.” Making Lim Yu-jin realize at the end of Episode Eight that Jung Si-hoo knew her secret was intended to deepen this conflict.
While the conflict of the First Lead roles was heading toward its peak, the Sub Roles were also approaching a significant climax. Of course, the story of the Sub Roles was inevitably a bit more relaxed compared to the main roles. This was because it didn’t necessarily have to start in Episode One and finish in Episode Sixteen.
In fact, even in *Your Brilliant Sparkle*, the story of those two began little by little from Episode Two and was scheduled to conclude in Episode Fourteen.
The reason Taeha structured the Sub Roles this way was simple. The Sub Roles needed to serve as a breath of fresh air for the overall atmosphere of the drama, which could become too heavy with the main story. When the First Lead roles were in conflict, the Sub Roles provided moments of excitement, and when the First Lead roles were sweet, the Sub Roles provided the conflict.
As such, Kim Tae-yang and Lee Soo-jung—who seemed to be successfully developing feelings for each other—faced a conflict right when Jung Si-hoo and Lim Yu-jin were losing themselves in the excitement of their kiss. A colleague had seen Lee Soo-jung with Kim Tae-yang.
‘What am I doing with this kid?’
Confronted with reality, Lee Soo-jung decided to distance herself emotionally from Kim Tae-yang. However, while Jung Si-hoo and Lim Yu-jin were clashing over the blind date story, Kim Tae-yang made a bold confession to Lee Soo-jung.
In that moment, Lee Soo-jung realized her own feelings—that she was also attracted to Kim Tae-yang. Of course, not yet ready to face them, she continued to avoid him.
As demonstrated, the flow of the Sub Roles was inevitably influenced by the First Lead roles. However, the actors couldn’t let their characters’ emotions get swept away. The two actors playing the Sub Roles had to maintain their own emotional arcs while the main story progressed.
Fortunately, Han Woo-ri and Kim Se-mi were performing their roles without any major issues. Whenever there was a hint of them wavering, Taeha and Im Kyung-ho would step in to settle the situation, so no real problems could arise.
***
After finishing the shoot up to Episode Eight, another break arrived. Taeha was currently waiting backstage at a performance venue.
Standing there, he thought to himself, ‘To think I’m actually going to sing on stage.’